You might think that, as a technology writer, I would go through computers like spyware through a Windows PC. On the contrary, a few weeks ago I finally retired my trusty dual-G4-processor Power Macintosh tower (affectionately called “Quicksilver”) that I purchased in late September of 2001. Quicksilver served faithfully for five years, with not one trip to any repair shop. I “pumped him up” with a lot of RAM, always gave him plenty of “personal space” (he could hold up to four huge hard drives), and he has been the most reliable Mac I’ve ever owned.

As the fetching Mrs. Z is a serious photographer, Quicksilver’s partner on the desktop was a stunning 22-inch (diagonal) Apple Cinema Display. Screen space is a priority when doing serious photo editing with Photoshop, and the Cinema Display provided oodles (a technical term for “a lot”) of said space.

As it turns out, a recent study has shown that larger screen space increases productivity in virtually all facets of computing. Even exciting endeavors like spreadsheets and word processing. Be sure to cite this study when trying to convince your significant other that you really NEED that big display. I don’t think it works with high-def televisions, though. Anyway, I digress.

Five years is a long time in the age of technology. Since Quicksilver came to live with us, Apple has transitioned through the G5 to today’s Intel Core 2 Duos and Xeons. Fast USB 2.0 and even faster FireWire 800 speed up data transfer. Memory (both RAM and hard drive) prices have plummeted. Quicksilver’s hot dual processors required relatively noisy fans to run all the time. This was a blessing in the winter (the computer desk was often the warmest place in the house), but today’s processors run way cooler and use less electricity.

Although Quicksilver will be perfectly capable of running Apple’s new “Leopard” operating system when it arrives after the first of the year, Leopard’s (and Apple’s iLife digital lifestyle suite of applications) full potential will be better realized on the Intel architecture.

So, I recently disconnected Quicksilver (and, no, he didn’t start singing “Daisy, Daisy…”) and replaced him with Apple’s new 24-inch iMac. Don’t be sad. Quicksilver’s resting comfortably, waiting to be productive again in the right “retirement home”. As they say, after all, five is the new three.

I don’t have a name yet for the new iMac, so for now let’s just call her “24” (no relation to the popular TV show of the same name). 24’s 1900 x 1220 display is not only huge, it is breathtakingly bright. In fact, in everyday operation we run it at approximately half of the full bright setting. Needless to say, the picture quality is equally breathtaking, and there’s plenty of room for Photoshop’s (and other application’s) palettes and other trappings.

24 is fast. Wicked fast. Faster than the speed of stink. 24’s Core 2 Duo processor with its dual core, large cache, and fast bus architecture make real-time video editing and other processor-intensive chores a breeze. Max-ing out the RAM at 3 GB doesn’t hurt, either. Read/write times to the massive Serial ATA hard drive contribute to the speed increases as well. I’m giddy with the prospects of running Leopard on 24.

As the iMac is a “computer within the display”, the footprint on the computer desk is very small. That “cave” under the desk made for a computer tower to dwell in has become welcome storage space for camera gear and other toys.

Finally, the iMac is almost eerily quiet. It’s so quiet you can sometimes hear the faint purring of the hard drive (or is that the cat on Mrs. Z’s lap?).

© 2006 Peter F. Zimowski